


Thank You for the Rain

by starsystems



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Multiple Pairings, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2006-04-27
Updated: 2007-02-12
Packaged: 2017-10-23 02:54:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/245508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starsystems/pseuds/starsystems
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The school gets a new student with weird hair and an attitude problem. Five boys gain new friends and find themselves. These things might or might not be connected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Aiba: You know what they say about first impressions...

**Author's Note:**

> Most of this fic was written in 2006-2008. I am posting it here on AO3 slowly, with some wording and grammar fixes.
> 
> Currently, this fic is not finished. The last five chapters remain unwritten.

”New kid,” Miyamoto said to Aiba as a greeting.

“Hm?” Aiba muttered, not looking away from the window. The sky was getting grey and cloudy and Aiba knew it would start to rain before school was over. He wished that he had remembered to take his umbrella with him when he had left home.

“I’m just saying that we get a new classmate today,” Miyamoto continued, not minding Aiba’s absent-mindedness. It wasn’t like Aiba usually was any different. “Too bad it’s a guy,” Miyamoto sighed and let out a small laugh.

Aiba didn’t answer him. Of course he knew the new student was coming today. It wasn’t like anyone talked about anything else anymore around here. He was already sick and tired of this new boy, even though he hadn’t even seen him yet. He sighed and muttered something to Miyamoto, wishing that the boy would go away and leave him alone.

The students in his class bored the hell out of Aiba. He rarely talked to anyone in class and only the fear of getting shut out and bullied made him take part in the conversations from time to time and kept him pretending that he didn’t really hate them. He wished that there was at least one interesting person in the school, but it didn’t seem like it. And the new kid… he didn’t get his hopes up about that either.

Aiba watched how two people ran around the school yard, kicking a football back and forth with each other. A window that had been left slightly open carried their voices to him. They were laughing and taunting each other and gradually getting louder and louder. He watched how the other boy – the taller one with his hair dyed brown – suddenly stopped and picked up the ball and then shot it through the basketball hoop that stood in the corner of the yard.

Perfectly, all net. And from quite a long way away too.

“Idiot Sakurai!” the other boy laughed. “That’s not how you play soccer!”

Aiba didn’t hear Sakurai’s reply, but he heard the laughter following it. It made him smile, even though at the same time he felt annoyed and slightly jealous. Why it seemed like he was the only one who couldn’t be completely at ease at school? Why he was the only one who couldn’t act as silly as he wanted without fear of getting ridiculed? It wasn’t like he didn’t _want_ to laugh like those two at the yard or do silly things like that. The problem was just that he didn’t have anyone to do those things with. He didn’t trust anyone that much.

The two boys disappeared into the school building and their laughter faded from Aiba’s ears. But at that moment his class fell suddenly silent. Aiba turned to look at the direction of the classroom door and saw his homeroom teacher entering, followed closely by a boy.

Aiba didn’t know what he had expected, but this was definitely not it.

The new student was quite short and thin, and he really needed a haircut. His dark brown hair reached the collar of his school uniform, the ends curling into random directions. The uniform was obviously brand new and didn’t really fit him that well. The sleeves were too long and it made him look frail, almost girly. But even though he looked slightly awkward and was obviously nervous, he didn’t try to hide behind his bangs or the teacher. He walked into the room with his head held high, eyes scanning the students who were all staring at him. There was something very arrogant in the way he held himself. Aiba rolled his eyes. “ _Brat_ ,” he thought.

“Hello. My name is Ninomiya Kazunari. I like baseball, playing guitar and singing. Nice to meet you,” the new kid introduced himself while their teacher wrote his name on the blackboard. His voice rang clearly through the silent classroom. Aiba had never before seen a new student with that much self-confidence. This kid clearly had enough attitude for at least two people his size. Aiba wondered if he would get bullied because of that or if his classmates would actually like it.

Ninomiya gave a short bow and then went to the seat he was shown. It was on Aiba’s side of the classroom and as he passed Aiba, their eyes met for a brief moment.

Aiba wondered if this Ninomiya would be as interesting as he seemed.


	2. Sho: It’s not like you really have to do calculations in math class.

Sho stretched his arms high over his head and tried to stifle the coming yawn. It was the last class of the day and he was bored, bored, _bored_. Math had never been his favourite subject and their teacher was only making it worse, being so horribly dull. Sho looked around himself and saw that the rest of his class wore identical spaced out expressions. He probably looked just like them. The monotonous voice of their teacher and the tapping of the rain on the windows numbed his mind and made it really hard to stay awake. Though he didn’t really look forward to walking home in the rain, he still would prefer it to _this_.

He just wanted to be back home already.

Sho stole a glance at the boy sitting next to him. Ohno Satoshi was always drawing and Sho liked to watch him. The teachers liked Ohno because they thought he was making notes, though that was as far from the truth as was possible. There was one unfinished calculation in the upper corner of Ohno’s notepaper; the rest of it was covered with small drawings. At the moment Ohno was drawing a wonderful caricature of their teacher. Sho hid his grin behind his hand.

For the entire duration of their high school years they had sat next to each other, but Sho could count the times they had actually spoken to each other with the fingers of one hand. Still Sho felt connected to the other boy somehow. Maybe it was because he had seen how Ohno had gotten better and better at drawing over time, or because Ohno really seemed to put so much of himself into his art. It was clear that Ohno’s drawings weren’t just some doodles to pass the time. Sho could easily see that Ohno loved drawing and was intent on getting better at it. Sho respected that kind of dedication, although he also felt slightly sorry for the other boy. This was already their final year of high school and Sho hadn’t seen Ohno make a single friend during all this time. The other boy didn’t even seem to make an effort to know anyone. He was always either drawing or just spacing out, maybe thinking, maybe just staring out of the window. It made Ohno easy prey to bullies and Sho had found himself defending the other boy more than once.

Every time that happened, Ohno would nod his thanks to him and wander away, as if none of it really mattered to him, like all the ridicule and punches just slipped his mind the moment it was over.

“ _What a weird guy..._ ” Sho thought to himself, and not for the first time.

Finally the bell rang, ending the last lesson of the day. Sho stood up and gathered his things quickly, hoping that no one would have time to bother him before he slipped away. He just wanted to go home today and he was grateful of the rain. Because of it, they had cancelled the football practice and he could leave early for once.

He almost made it out of the building when one of his friends ambushed him.

“Sho! Are you leaving?”

Sho gave the boy a weak smile and pushed his locker closed. “Yeah, Yuichi, I am. No practice today, remember?”

“Yeah. Sometimes rain is nice,” Yuichi said, flashing his trademark wide grin. “Hey, do you want to go and have something to eat with me and the rest of the guys? We’re going to go to that place that Mika is working at.” Yuichi winked at him.

Sho resisted the urge to roll his eyes. It seemed as if every male student in this school had a crush on Tanaka Mika. Sho found it extremely boring.

It wasn’t that Mika wasn’t pretty or nice or anything like that. It was just that… it was like a trend. Every year there was a girl that every boy in the school had a crush on, _needed_ to have a crush on so that they could somehow belong. Sho just… wasn’t interested.

“Um. No thanks. I have to go home tonight, for… uh…” Sho tried to think about something convincing, but failed. He really wasn’t very good at lying.

”HEY! Excuse us!” someone said in a loud voice from behind them, making them both jump. Sho turned around and saw a short boy with too long hair standing behind him, his arms crossed over his chest and looking very annoyed. “If the two of you have stopped gossiping like little girls, can I get to my locker already? And I think he needs to get to his too.” The boy nodded his head towards another younger boy, standing a little way behind, clutching his books and looking at them with slightly too wide eyes.

”Sorry,” Sho muttered, stepping out of the way before Yuichi could say anything. His friend would laugh at his sheepishness later, but something in that boy made Sho wish he wouldn’t get him any more annoyed. Maybe it was the sharp look in his eyes that was a bit unsettling. It made him feel like the boy could do anything if he was provoked enough.

“Hey, don’t you have any respect for your seniors?” Yuichi asked, half-joking and half-irritated.

“Hmph. I have just as much respect for you as you have common courtesy,” the boy said, not turning to face them. Instead, he looked at the other boy who was still standing close. “Hey, you, stop hovering there like some idiot and do whatever you came here to do. Is everyone in this school thick or something?”

The boy blinked and blushed a little. “Sorry for bothering you,” he muttered as he brushed past Sho and opened his locker, hastily grabbing his things, trying to get away as quickly as he could. He only succeeded in spilling the contents of his backpack on the floor.

Yuichi let out a small snicker. Sho elbowed him sharply in the ribs and bent down to help pick things up. ”Don’t worry,” Sho said, offering an encouraging smile to the boy. “Sorry about not noticing you earlier.”

The other boy, the loud one, had stopped what he had been doing and was now watching Sho and the kid with a closed expression. Then he blinked, and it was gone. “Hey, book kid,” he said in a much gentler tone than before. “You have an umbrella with you?”

“Yeah,” the boy nodded, still a bit guarded.

”Wanna walk with me to the station? I’m going to get wet otherwise,” the boy asked, pouting a little and actually succeeding to look both pathetic and adorable at the same time.

There was no way the kid would fall for that, though, not after he had been called an idiot by the same person just moments ago.

Sho watched how the other boy’s face split into a huge, dazzling grin and how he nodded. “Sure!” he said, much more cheerful now.

The long haired boy smiled back to him and gathered his things. “Let’s go then!”

Sho blinked and glanced at Yuichi. Yuichi was shaking his head, obviously very amused by the whole thing. They watched as the pair vanished out the doors. Sho felt a little like after an earthquake – a bit shaky on his feet and uncertain about what had just happened, or if he was still in one piece.

Just _who_ was that guy anyway?


	3. Ohno: communication practice for dummies

That was what he liked about Sho, Satoshi thought when he ducked behind the corner so that the four people over at the lockers couldn’t see him. Sho could be a big lump of a jock one moment and then suddenly turn into a sweet guy when there was someone who needed help. Or maybe Sho was considerate all the time, he didn’t know, because he just didn’t know Sho well enough. Satoshi wished that he could figure out a way to talk to him, especially without getting flustered. Actually being able to say something would be a nice change too. He had wanted to thank him for helping him out all those times, but had never really got to it. There were always so many distractions around Sho.

He knew it was a bit ridiculous, but there was something about Sho that made people respect him. And it wasn’t just because he was popular and good at sports. He was kind and considerate towards others and never acted like he was superior to anyone.

Satoshi felt a bit disgusted with himself. He really didn’t want to sound like a complete Sho-fan, not even in his own head.

First, he probably should stop stalking Sho like some creepy fanboy. He sighed and stepped around the corner, heading for his locker to get his stuff and pretending to ignore Sho and his friend. The other two boys had already left.

“Must have been a new student,” Yuichi was saying to Sho. “I’ve never seen him before either. He had a bit of an attitude problem, eh? And what’s with the _hair_?” Yuichi laughed, patting Sho on the shoulder. “He got you scared, though, didn’t he? You were so meek, it was a bit embarrassing to watch.”

“Oh, shut up. I was just being courteous.”

“No, that was being sheepish. You’re a senior, you should be keeping the little ones in check. He was a pretty rude guy.” Yuichi shook his head. “Well, I’ll be going now. I can’t keep Mika waiting for my charming self, can I? See ya!” Yuichi waved his hand and left Sho alone.

The hallway was slowly filling with more students ready to get home, but no one was bothering Sho, who continued to slowly pick his things up. He was frowning slightly and glancing outside from time to time, probably wishing that the rain would start showing signs of stopping.

This was his chance to talk to Sho, Satoshi told himself. He just needed to walk over there and start a conversation. Nothing more. Lots of people did things like that every day.

But as usual, his brain and his mouth really didn’t work that well together, so he remained silent and just walked past Sho, trying to look like he didn’t even notice him. He stepped outside and opened his umbrella.

“Oh! Wait!” he heard Sho’s voice yell, before a hand fell on his shoulder. He turned, startled and a little bit frightened, expecting to see one of the guys that always bullied him standing behind him, but it was only Sho. He smiled apologetically and rubbed the back of his neck, looking embarrassed. “Can I ask you a favour?” he said.

”...Sure?” Satoshi nodded, not really believing that Sho had actually talked to him.

“You see, I forgot to take my umbrella with me when I left home this morning... We’re heading the same way, so could we go together? It’s really raining hard out there. I’d be completely soaked before I left the school yard.” Sho made a face. “But if you have anywhere to go or something to do, I won’t bother you... Please?”

Satoshi wanted to ask why Sho hadn’t gone home with one of his friends, but thought it would probably sound rude and like he didn’t want to help. And that wasn’t true. So he gave a small smile to Sho, nodding. “Sure,” he said. “I don’t really mind.”

Sho’s grin was huge. “Thanks so much! You saved my life! Here, let me hold the umbrella for you. Are you going all the way to the train station too?”

Sho was chatting with him so easily. Satoshi marvelled how effortless it was to fall into a conversation with him, without really needing to think about everything he said before letting it out of his mouth. If they were in danger of running out of things to say, Sho easily directed the talk to a new topic. They talked about the rain, TV programs they had watched, how dull their math teacher was and how their chemistry teacher seemed to be a little bit wrong in the head.

It was all so easy and ordinary and Sho’s laughter was contagious, but still Satoshi felt uneasy, walking next to Sho like this. There was a knot in the pit of his stomach, just like every time he had to do a speech in front of the class or when he had to show one of his paintings to someone who wasn’t his mother. He knew that he was trying _so hard_ to sound interesting, so that Sho would like him and want to talk to him more, that he was actually getting a headache from it. And even with all his effort, he still let Sho do most of the talking.

Sometimes it really sucked to be him.


	4. Jun: When it rains, it pours and other annoying sayings.

Not that Jun idolised Sakurai Sho or anything like that. It was not like he looked up to him or that he wanted to be like him. It was just that…

Sho was just so _cool_.

Too bad he had just made a complete fool of himself in front of Sho. Jun wanted to hit himself on the head with the book he was holding against his chest, but the presence of Ninomiya stopped him. Sure, like he needed the boy to think that he was even bigger loser than he had first believed. It was bad enough that he looked like a complete dork, he didn’t need to do anything to make things even worse.

Ninomiya was chattering about something, but Jun hadn’t really paid much attention to him. How could he concentrate on anything when he had just spoken to Sakurai Sho? And Sho had _smiled_ to him and...

And somebody please stop him. How pathetic.

“What’s with you? You’re really quiet.” Ninomiya asked, peering at him from under his ridiculous hair. “Did I scare you or something?” he laughed. “You should stop being so jumpy. I’m only a year older than you.”

Jun frowned. “What does that have to do with anything? And you didn’t scare me. Like that’s even possible for someone who looks as stupid as you. I was just thinking, that’s all.”

Ninomiya feigned surprise. “Ooh, he _can_ talk after all! And it seems that you actually have some attitude too. That timid performance you had in front of those two guys just fooled me. What was that about anyway?”

Jun shrugged, marvelling how his words didn’t seem to have any kind of effect on this guy. “You know… Sakurai Sho is like the celebrity of this school. He’s one of the top five students and he plays soccer and basketball and he’s really friendly too. He’s like a prince or an... an idol to some people.”

“People like you?” Ninomiya asked. “Funny, I found him to be a bit rude and definitely not at all princely.”

“Nah, he just didn’t notice me. I don’t really get noticed that much. I’m used to it.” It was true. Most of the time people just passed him by without even glancing at his direction. It didn’t really bother him that much. Well... most of the time it was all the same to him. At least he didn’t get bullied.

“Uh, people don’t usually notice you? Well, maybe they would if you stopped hiding behind things when there’s actually someone around,” Nino pointed out, looking a bit puzzled. “I just call that cowardice.”

Jun’s temper flared. He stopped and glared at the boy. “Even if it was true, you have no right to say things like that. You don’t know me. I might have my reasons. Who do you think you are?”

Ninomiya still didn’t seem to be at all bothered by his words and that just made Jun even angrier. “Calm down,” Ninomiya smiled and patted Jun’s shoulder. “It’s okay to be cowardly in your first year at high school. Just... make sure that you grow out of it soon. It’s really unattractive.”

Jun almost wanted to leave Ninomiya there and let him get wet, but at the same time he didn’t want to walk home alone. It was nice… walking with someone. Even when that someone made you so annoyed that you wanted to kick him. At least fighting with someone like this was very refreshing.

“Stop patronizing me,” Jun snapped. “You said it yourself, you’re just one year older than me.”

Ninomiya just grinned. “Let’s get going... uh... what was your name again?”

“Matsumoto Jun.” Jun rolled his eyes. Great. Ninomiya had already forgotten his name. What the hell was wrong with him?

”Ah, Jun-kun, let’s get going!” Ninomiya grabbed Jun’s wrist and led them towards the train station. “And by the way, you can call me Nino!”

Jun just knew that sooner or later he was going to punch this guy in the face.


	5. Nino: One more first day.

He was nervous. He was more nervous than he had been in a long time.

It was strange. After seven different schools, you’d expect to get used to introducing yourself, making new friends and starting all over again. But it felt like every time he had to go through this, it just became more and more difficult.

“Hello. My name is Ninomiya Kazunari. I like baseball, playing guitar and singing. Nice to meet you,” he said in a clear voice, willing it not to tremble. He was damned if he was letting anyone in the class know that he was nervous. This was just another role; he needed to give the class a certain image of himself, at least in the beginning. If he came out sounding self-assured, but not too cocky, no one would try to mess with him. They’d just be interested in knowing more about him.

Hopefully.

The teacher pointed a seat for him and he took it, hearing the usual whispers around himself. People were still staring at him and he willed his body to stay relaxed. He was just going to pretend that he didn’t notice the stares, or maybe act more like he didn’t care about them.

Just that...

That one boy, few seats away from him, near the windows… The tall boy with the unruly hair and bored expression. Their eyes had met briefly when he had passed his seat and Nino had seen something there, a little bit interesting. Maybe.

He had figured that he had two options in this school, like in every school he had attended before this one. Either he would try his hardest to blend in, hang out with anyone who wanted to hang out with him and just adjust himself into the school’s social structure. He had done this few times before. Everything would go smoothly, even if he would feel a little bit irritated by some of the more idiotic things that approach made him deal with, but at least he would be able to carry on without a hitch until his father would announce that they would have to move again.

On the other hand, he could seek out the most interesting people in this school and try to be friends with them and make things actually _exciting_. Of course, when he would have to move again, he would be leaving these people behind and it would be hard. Again.

In the end, there really wasn’t that much to think about, was there? He would always choose interesting over boring and ordinary. He didn’t really care how many enemies he would make along the way, it wasn’t important. What was important was that he could see himself being friends with that boy, the one who was staring out of the window instead of paying attention to the teacher.

Of course, he always got interested in the ones who didn’t show any interest in him.

Well, he was used to that.

 

The difficult thing was, Aiba seemed to be extremely hard to come across outside of the classroom. When the lunch hour came, he disappeared before Nino had even figured a way to catch his attention. Nino would have followed him out, but he was instantly surrounded by curious classmates who wanted to know more about him.

“So annoying...” he muttered from under his breath. Forget it, he would catch up with Aiba sooner or later. “Hey, tell me about that Aiba-guy. Why didn’t he stay here?” he asked from a nearby boy, whose name he had already forgotten.

“Oh, no one really knows much about him. He keeps to himself,” the boy said, shrugging his shoulders. “Though, girls seem to like that kind of mystery. They all have a crush on him.”

“Kind of annoying, really,” another boy – Nino thought his name was Yamashita – laughed. “But he’s cool, so we don’t really care about that. It’s not like he takes advantage of his popularity with girls.”

“Yeah, you’re lucky if the guy even talks to you at all. I always get one word replies to everything,” a guy called Miyamoto laughed. “But he’s boring. Let’s talk about something else.”

“Oh, yeah!” the first boy nodded. “Who cares about him? Say, do you want to come with us to this café after school? The girls who work there are really pretty and we want to show you all the cool places to hang out.”

Nino shook his head. “No, I have things to do after school. Maybe some other time.”

He highly doubted that he would ever want to hang out with these guys. They were friendly enough, but Nino really wasn’t that interested. These people wouldn’t know exciting from boring even if it punched them in the face.

The day passed, class after class. It was all pretty normal, unless you counted the obviously crazy guy who taught them chemistry. So, by the time the final bell rang, Nino was feeling bored and annoyed. He had tried to speak to Aiba a couple of times but he always got very short answers or then he was ignored completely.

It pissed him off.

So when two tall jock-types were standing in the hall, leaning right against his locker and looking like they would never move away, he was ready for a fight.

He noticed a thin and awkward-looking boy hovering about when he walked towards his locker and the two guys. The boy was clutching a book against his chest, staring at the two annoying roadblocks. They were probably leaning against his locker too, and he was too shy to say anything. Nino wondered how long he had already waited quietly for them to move.

Idiots.

”HEY! Excuse us!” Nino said loudly. “If the two of you have stopped gossiping like little girls, can I get to my locker already? And I think he needs to get to his too.” He nodded towards the scrawny kid who was hiding behind his book.

”Sorry,” the other roadblock muttered, looking suitably ashamed. The other one – the uglier of the two – glared at Nino.

“Hey, don’t you have any respect for your seniors?” the ugly one said, sounding annoyed and a little bit amused. It was all the same to Nino, he didn’t care. He just wanted to get his stuff and go home.

“Hmph. I have just as much respect for you as you have common courtesy,” Nino said and ignored the two, instead turning towards the small boy who still tried to hide behind his book. “Hey, you, stop hovering there like some idiot and do whatever you came here to do. Is everyone in this school thick or something?”

The boy blinked and blushed a little. “Sorry for bothering you,” he muttered to the two. Nino rolled his eyes. Why was he being all courteous towards these guys? They didn’t particularly deserve it. The boy stuffed things inside his backpack in a panic that was pretty fascinating to watch. Did he really fear these guys that much? Of course, all the poor kid was able to do, was to spill the contents of his backpack on the floor.

The uglier roadblock laughed.

By now Nino had decided that he wanted to be friends with that scared little thing. The boy reminded him of some small animal, all shuddering and panicked in front of bigger animals. It was pretty adorable, even if it was also really annoying.

The other roadblock, the cuter one, was actually helping the boy to pick up things. How very nice of him. “Don’t worry,” he said, smiling. “Sorry about not noticing you earlier.”

Maybe this one wasn’t that bad, Nino thought. But never mind, he had already decided that he didn’t like him. There just was something very galling in the way he looked. The big lips and the big eyes and the flashy smile... Something about him rubbed Nino in the wrong way.

Anyway, it really wasn’t that important. It was raining outside and it looked like it wouldn’t stop for a long time. And he had forgotten to take his umbrella with him when he left home that morning. He had probably been too nervous to pay attention to the gloomy weather.

Among the things that the boy had spilled on the floor, Nino had noticed a small umbrella.

“Hey, book kid,” he said, sounding a lot more friendlier now when his annoyance had mostly gone. “You have an umbrella with you?”

“Yeah,” the boy nodded, looking a bit guarded, careful of what would come next. A bit like a rabbit in the headlights.

Nino fought off the urge to grin.

”Wanna walk with me to the station? I’m going to get wet otherwise.” Nino put his best look of pathetic pleading on his face. It usually worked with everyone and this time was no different. The boy grinned a goofy grin and nodded. The kid was so adorable, there was nothing else Nino could do than to smile widely back. “Let’s go then!” He took the boy’s umbrella and lead the way out the door, completely ignoring the two guys, still standing around, staring at them.

At first the boy was in a daze, probably still shocked about what had happened, but Nino could at least get his name from him.

Matsumoto Jun, one year younger than him, a little bit taller than him. From the way he was clutching the book against his chest, Nino figured that he apparently liked to read. Awkward, gangly boy, with too long limbs and a big, awkward smile. And it was again one of those occasions when Nino found himself liking someone a lot, even when he didn’t know anything about them, or when they should have only annoyed him. He tended to go with his gut-feeling, since it was usually pretty right in knowing who were good, interesting people and who were not.

“What’s with you? You’re really quiet,” he asked from the boy, who still didn’t show any signs of coming out of his stunned silence. “Did I scare you or something?”

It turned out that Jun had a lot more in him than showed on the surface. He could actually hold his own against Nino. Bickering with Jun was really fun and he was interesting with his Sakurai Sho-worship and what seemed like a double personality, with the sharp tongue and timid appearance. Nino wanted to see if he could draw the boy out of his shell. He hoped he could. That way things would get even more interesting.

Well, right now it seemed like Jun didn’t really like him that much. Nino was getting dark scowls directed at him. It only made him feel more cheerful, after spending all day being ignored by Aiba. Actually getting a reaction from someone was a welcome change. And, besides, Jun could scowl and insult all he wanted, he didn’t really have a choice in this matter. Nino had already decided to be friends with him, he wasn’t about to change his mind any time soon.

“See you tomorrow!” Nino said, waving, as they arrived at the train station and discovered that they would go to the opposite directions.

“Right,” Jun muttered. “Don’t you have anything better to do than make my life even more difficult?”

Nino grinned. “It’s just too much fun. I think it's going to be my favourite thing about this place.” Then he turned and walked to this own platform, leaving Jun scowling at him.

When Nino got to his platform, he was surprised to see Aiba standing there, alone.


	6. Aiba: An incident in the train.

The new guy wouldn’t stop talking.

For the ten minutes that they had spent on the train platform waiting for their train and the following five minutes that they had spent in the train, Ninomiya just wouldn’t shut up. Aiba felt like smiling at the boy and his unending chain of topics and opinions and jokes, but then he remembered that he was supposed to be annoyed about the completely shameless way Ninomiya had attached himself to him, never asking if Aiba even wanted any company.

The thing was... He actually, kind of, liked it.

“You know... is our chemistry teacher brewing something for himself in the school lab or something? That guy obviously doesn’t have all his brain cells intact anymore. And the things he lets us get away with... He just might be my favourite teacher,” Ninomiya said, leaving Aiba wondering how he had ended up from the topic of baseball to talking about their chemistry teacher.

Aiba laughed out loud and surprised himself. He wasn’t supposed to be enjoying himself, was he? It just was quite hard not to, with this guy. “Um, Mr. Domoto is a bit weird, yeah,” he had to agree. “But there’s nothing really wrong in the way he teaches us. It’s not like you won’t learn anything in his class.”

Ninomiya gave him a brilliant, delighted smile. “I kind of prefer it when you use more than one word to answer to me. Why do you do that anyway?”

Aiba shrugged. “Habit, I guess. Also, people complain about Mr. Domoto a lot, so I’ve kind of gotten bored of hearing about it. But this might be the first time that anyone has first called him crazy and then named him his favourite teacher.”

“Really? I would have thought that a lot of people would find him really interesting.”

“Most people just think he’s crazy.”

“I liked his fish-shaped tie,” Ninomiya grinned. The mischievous expression on his face made Aiba laugh out loud again.

“Now, this is definitely the first time I ever hear someone complimenting his clothes.”

“People around here really don’t have a sense of humour, do they? Everyone’s so boring.” Ninomiya made a face. “I don’t get it. You have these amazing characters in your school and the best person you people find to idolize is that Sakurai Sho. How completely uninteresting.”

“Oh, Sakurai?” Aiba asked. He didn’t know why he was that surprised that Ninomiya already knew about him.

“Yeah. I met him,” Ninomiya shrugged. “Are you one of his fans too?”

“Not really. I don’t really care enough to start fanboying someone like that. It’s just completely pointless. Though it is pretty fascinating how he manages to keep everyone so interested in him.”

“I bet he’s one of those people who stick their noses into everything, even if it’s not their business at all.”

“Like private conversations?” A new voice suddenly said. Aiba turned and saw Sakurai standing there, looking like he couldn’t decide if he was amused or annoyed.

Aiba made a face and could feel himself blushing from shame. This was awkward. Of course something like this would happen. _Of course_.

Sho stepped closer to them. “Though because you were actually talking about _me_ , it’s okay to get involved, right?”

“So what if we were talking about you?” Nino said and Aiba couldn’t believe how unfazed the seemed to be. This whole situation was completely embarrassing, and Nino didn’t seem to be at all affected. “I would have thought – with your school idol status and all – that you would have gotten used to hearing people talk about you.”

“Well, people talk about me, yes, but usually they don’t make accusations like that without knowing me. At least not when I’m around to hear.”

“Oh, you want to prove me wrong?” Nino asked, raising one eyebrow.

“I just want to tell you that if you have anything to say about me, you can come and tell it to my face, instead of just saying whatever you want to your friends. At least give me a chance to defend myself. Or don’t you have enough guts to do that?”

”Me? Not enough guts?” Nino snorted. “I just want you to wake up. Not everyone worships the ground you walk on, so you can’t go around doing whatever you want.” Nino was really looking for a fight, wasn’t he? Aiba wondered what Sho had done to get Nino so angry at him.

“Since when have I done something to you? I don’t even know who you are. We just met today for the first time! And that means that you don’t know me at all either, so you don’t really have any right to say anything about me,” Sho defended himself.

Okay, Aiba was getting confused. Why were these two fighting at all?

“Well, I know you are ignorant and self-assured enough to ignore the people around you. Like Jun-kun earlier today.”

“I didn’t see him! He was practically hiding!”

Who was Jun-kun? What was going on?

“And you were rude.”

“That was you!” Sho exclaimed, starting to sound frustrated. “You barged in there, insulted me, my friend and that Jun-kun of yours and then just left!”

Nino still didn’t give in to Sho at all, even after this outburst. Aiba kind of admired him for that. Even if the whole argument seemed a bit bizarre to him.

“You laughed at Jun,” Nino said, still sounding completely calm.

“I didn’t! Okay, so Yuichi did, but he’s just inconsiderate. It’s not like we were being mean on purpose!”

Nino rolled his eyes. “I don’t like you.”

“Why? I haven’t done anything to you.”

“I just don’t.”

It was actually quite fascinating to watch. These two completely forgot everything about their surroundings and got completely immersed into their fight. People were giving them nervous glances and moving away from them, and neither seemed to notice anything. Aiba wondered which one would win. Sho was probably right, but Nino was stubborn, that much Aiba had been able to understand already.

”You can’t just decide to hate someone!” Sho was getting exasperated. But, weirdly, it didn’t feel like either of them were really mad. Nino was purposefully annoying and Sho was frustrated, but they weren’t angry and didn’t seem to be even _getting_ angry. Aiba felt no threat of them getting violent. It was the weirdest fight he had ever witnessed.

“I don’t like the way you look. And I don’t like the way you argue and you are just annoying in general.” Nino crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Sho with narrowed eyes.

Aiba thought that Nino was actually enjoying himself. A lot. He was glad that Nino had decided to like him, instead of this.

Poor Sho.

Sho stared back at Nino for a while, before suddenly grinning. “What’s your name?” he asked.

The question surprised both Aiba and Nino.

Nino blinked. “Ninomiya Kazunari,” he said, apparently too surprised to come up with anything mean to say.

“Okay, Ninomiya Kazunari. I’m going to prove you wrong. Just watch me,” Sho flashed a quick smile. Then he turned and walked away from them, leaving Nino staring daggers into his back.

Aiba felt like laughing, but knew better. Nino was looking dissatisfied. Sho had somehow won the argument and Nino obviously didn’t like it.

“I don’t like him,” Nino muttered once more.

The train came to a stop and Nino glanced out of the window, suddenly forgetting his annoyance. “Shit, this is my stop! I’ll see you tomorrow at school! Let’s eat lunch together!”

Before Aiba could answer, Nino had already vanished into the crowd.

Aiba wondered when he had started calling Ninomiya “Nino” and why he hadn’t noticed it right away. Then he glanced at Sho, who was standing in the other end of the car, and wondered why it was so difficult to keep calling him Sakurai. Aiba made his way to him, feeling like he should somehow apologize in behalf of Nino.

“Um, hi?” he muttered, half expecting Sho to ignore him, but Sho turned his head and smiled instead.

“Hi?” Sho looked friendly and completely fine.

It _definitely_ had been the weirdest fight ever.

“I’m sorry about Nino. I just met him today, but I don’t think he’s usually that mean. I guess he had a bad day... He’s actually pretty nice.”

“Oh? People call him Nino?” Sho asked, sounding interested.

Did these two _like_ fighting? Did they just do it for _fun_ , whenever possible? What the hell was wrong with these people? _Why wasn’t anyone mad?_

“Uh, well, he told me that his friends call him Nino and that I should too,” Aiba shrugged. “I guess I’m his friend then.”

Sho laughed. “I guess.”

Aiba wondered if Nino made other people to get headaches like this too, or if it was just him.


	7. Sho: Singing in the rain.

Talking with Ohno had been fun. In that nervous, stupid, babbling whatever came to your mind kind of way. By the time Ohno turned towards his home and Sho headed to the train station, he was fairly certain that Ohno thought that he was a complete idiot. He didn’t remember most of the things he had talked about, but he was sure all of it had been pretty stupid. Ohno hadn’t said much, so he had panicked a little, trying to come up with things to say so that they wouldn’t fall into a complete silence.

Still, it had been fun, and when he got Ohno to say something, it had been even better. Even if he was quiet, Ohno still was easy to talk to. It felt like he didn’t have to avoid a topic so that Ohno wouldn’t laugh at him. It was a nice change.

When Sho arrived at the train station he was drenched from the rain, but still in a good mood. The platform was fairly crowded, so he walked further away from the entrance, just to get some more room for himself.

Then he spotted the rude boy from before – the one he had met at the lockers at school – standing with a taller boy a little way away from him. The small boy was talking animatedly. The kid with the book was nowhere to be seen.

“Hm. He’s found a new victim already,” Sho thought and hid behind a tall man. He didn’t really want to draw the boy’s attention to himself. Once in a day was enough.

Of course, things never did seem to go the way he wanted when that boy was in question.

It might have been his own fault for getting into a fight with him, though. He could have ignored the boy, he didn’t have to care about what the boy thought about him. He could have just let it be. He could have chosen another train car instead of the one that he and his friend chose. He was in full control of his own actions, he could have chosen to avoid the situation in many different ways.

It had _definitely_ been his fault.

Ninomiya was the most infuriating, annoying, illogical, venomous little thing he had ever met. Those hard eyes and the way they drilled into his head and the words that he said made his blood boil. And still, he wasn’t really angry at him. He felt curiously helpless when he stood face to face with him, like he couldn’t really control himself. The boy was able to make him lose his calm. It made him think that somehow he actually _wanted_ to lose to Ninomiya, like he needed this boy to accept him, whatever it would take. It was vaguely discomforting to realize. He didn’t particularly like feeling helpless and he positively _hated_ losing, so he would prove that Ninomiya was wrong about him. That would settle things.

Well, he at least hoped it would.

“Um, hi?” someone muttered. Sho turned to look and saw the tall boy that had been with Ninomiya.

“Hi?” Sho smiled to the boy. He guessed the last stop had been Ninomiya’s stop, since this boy was now alone.

“I’m sorry about Nino. I just met him today, but I don’t think he’s usually that mean. I guess he had a bad day... He’s actually pretty nice,” the boy said, looking apologetic.

“Oh? People call him Nino?” It was a pretty cute nickname. Sho could see that it could suit Ninomiya, when he wasn’t being angry and provocative, at least.

“Uh, well, he told me that his friends call him Nino and that I should too,” Aiba shrugged. “I guess I’m his friend then.”

Sho laughed. “I guess.”

“Oh, I’m Aiba. Aiba Masaki.”

“Sakurai Sho,” Sho smiled wider and shook Aiba’s hand.

How did you fight against someone like Ninomiya? It seemed like there was no logic at all in how Ninomiya acted towards anyone. Sho had heard the friendly talk he and Aiba had been having before the talk had turned to him. He had seen how hard Ninomiya had tried to make the other boy laugh. How hard he had wanted to please him. So why was he so friendly and sweet to others and then so horrible towards other people? He had met both him and Aiba on the same day, knew exactly the same amount of things about both of them... Why was it different?

What did Aiba have that he didn’t?

He examined Aiba, who seemed to have some difficulties in coming up with more things to say to Sho. Maybe Ninomiya liked people that were quieter than him, that somehow seemed to need him in their lives? Or maybe he liked weak people, who he could boss around?

Sho didn’t know why it was so important to him to show to Nino that he wasn’t a bad guy. It wasn’t just because his pride had been hurt. There was something more to it... Maybe it was just because not many people acted this way towards him. Generally people liked him or wanted to make him like them. Maybe he had just been bored? Maybe it was just because this was different from the normal way things went.

Sho hoped it was only because of that. He didn’t really know what to make about the way his heart had raced, how his cheeks had felt hot and how his head had been buzzing while he had been fighting with Nino. Of course, it was only because of the adrenaline.

Right?

“So, how do you know Nino?” Sho asked from Aiba.

“We’re in the same class,” Aiba shrugged.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Well, this was his first day at our school. I think he said that his father’s job makes them move a lot.”

“Really? What does his father do?”

Aiba shrugged. “I don’t know. Nino didn’t say.”

“Oh.”

The train stopped on another station. “My stop,” Aiba said. “I have to go.”

“Okay,” Sho nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Sure.” Aiba waved his hand and left.

Next stop was Sho’s, and when he left the train, he wondered if his life was about to change. Maybe it was only because of Ohno and Nino and even Aiba, but he felt like something interesting was going to happen soon. New people were always potential new friends, even if one of them seemed to hate him right now.

It was still raining when he arrived home. Even getting wet and fighting on the train and having a mountain of homework to do didn’t seem to be able to crush his good mood.


	8. Ohno: Mist and spiderwebs

After the rainstorm the morning was cool, fragile and transparent. When Satoshi woke up and saw the view out of his window, he hoped that today would be a good day.

The scenery along his usual route to school looked like it had been painted with watercolours, the mist blurring everything around him. It felt like he was the only person in the whole world. Maybe, when he would arrive at school, he would find it deserted. Only his own footsteps would echo around the hallways and the light would come through the windows like he had never seen it before, clear and cold and silver, like spiderwebs in places where people hadn’t lived in years.

Maybe it would be like that, to be the only person in the world. Just delicate moments and opportunities to see the real beauty of the world. He was already lonely, what would actually change? At least he wouldn’t have to be scared anymore.

The mist was getting on his skin, forming a cold veil, biting at his cheeks and getting into his hair, the moisture curling it annoyingly over his eyes.

But there wouldn’t be moments like this. No surprises that were suddenly calling his name in the middle of the misty morning.

“Ohno! Ohno!”

It was Sho, he could recognise the voice easily. He stopped to wait and soon Sho appeared, panting slightly, but grinning and full of energy. Sho’s breath was coming out in clouds that quickly evaporated in the air. It was getting warmer by the minute, the sun was slowly cutting through the mist, making the day more and more real.

Satoshi didn’t understand where all Sho’s energy was coming from. He seemed to already be completely awake even this early in the morning.

“Good morning!” Sho said.

“Good morning.” Satoshi didn’t know what to say. Why was Sho there, alone, instead of somewhere else with his friends?

“I’m so glad I caught up with you. I had a really weird day yesterday. It’s nice to see someone friendly.”

Satoshi frowned. “What happened yesterday?” he asked.

“Well, after you left, I ran into this really annoying guy in the train. We got into a fight there, in the middle of the packed train car! Can you believe it?”

“A fight?” Satoshi was amazed. Someone actually wanted to fight with Sho? What kind of a fight had it been? Satoshi imagined a fist fight in a train car, though he hoped it hadn’t been anything like that.

“We were almost yelling. When I realized it, I felt so ashamed.” Sho laughed, not really looking at all ashamed or annoyed about it.

What was going on?

“He was from our school too. A new student. Pretty interesting guy, but annoying as hell. I don’t know what his problem is. He said to my face that he didn’t like me.” Sho grinned again.

“So... What were you fighting about?” Satoshi asked.

“Ah, nothing really important,” Sho shrugged, looking a bit uncomfortable. “He was just really stubborn. I’m going to prove that he was wrong, though.”

“Okay...”

They walked slowly towards the school, side by side. Satoshi wondered if it would be like this from now on, if Sho had suddenly decided to become friends with him. It was weird. After almost three years of not even talking more than the occasional greeting, he had been suddenly sucked into Sho’s world. Before, Sho had always been nice to him and helped him, but never really giving the impression of actually wanting to be friends with him.

What had changed yesterday in Sho’s world that had allowed this to happen? It had been so sudden, at least to Satoshi, that he couldn’t help but feel concerned that it could change back just as quickly, leaving him alone again.

The sudden silence shook him out of his thoughts. He looked at Sho, who had stopped talking and was looking thoughtful. Something was bothering him, it was clear. Satoshi wondered if he should ask about it, but decided against it. If Sho wanted to tell, he would listen, but he really didn’t have any right to get nosy.

They walked the rest of the way to school in silence.

\--------

Even if he was avoiding Sho a little, it didn’t mean that he didn’t want to spend his time with him. He liked Sho and liked hanging out with him, even if they still had more awkward silences than natural conversation. But Satoshi needed some time to himself. Constantly being around other people tired him, even if Sho was really nice. It was just that... after the morning, Sho didn’t seem to be able to keep quiet for very long. Long silences made him uncomfortable, it was easy to see.

That’s why he had snuck out of the classroom before Sho could get to him. It was actually sunny outside, warm enough for him to go to sit in the sun and sketch. Most of the other students preferred the warmth of the cafeteria or their classrooms, but Satoshi didn’t mind the crispy autumn wind. It was peaceful and the world still retained some of the glimmering morning in the trees and the grass.

Well... The world had been peaceful for a while.

“Aiba! Catch!” Satoshi heard someone yelling behind his back. He didn’t bother turning, there was a line in his drawing that refused to curve the right way.

“Wait! Nino! Ouch!” Someone else exclaimed right before Satoshi felt something wet against his cheek and hands.

“Orange juice...” Satoshi thought, somewhat detached, his mind still on the drawing. He always got so immersed in what he was doing that he needed some time to adjust.

The drawing...

“Augh! My sketchbook! Orange juice!” Satoshi exclaimed and jumped up. He waved the sketchbook frantically around, trying to shake away the juice that hadn’t yet seeped into the pages.

”Aiba! You idiot! I told you to catch!”

“Why did you have to throw it so fast?” the one called Aiba protested and turned to Satoshi, looking apologetic. “Sorry. Really sorry. Nino is so reckless. Did we ruin your sketchbook?”

Satoshi regarded his soaked sketchbook and shrugged. “It’s okay. I’ll just let it dry for a while. I don’t think it’s ruined.”

The other boy, Nino, walked to them. “You’re so clumsy. You should...” Nino stopped in the middle of his sentence and looked at Satoshi. “You have orange juice all over your face,” he said, blinking and trying to keep himself from smiling. But Satoshi could tell. Nino was clearly amused by the situation. His eyes were dancing and glimmering. “Here,” Nino said, offering him a paper napkin. Satoshi took it and wiped his face.

When he was finished, he noticed that Nino had picked his sketchbook up and was carefully leafing through the soaked pages.

“You’re good. Sorry about the juice. I’ll buy you a new sketchbook. Damn, I hope I didn’t ruin any of your drawings.”

“It’s... um, it’s okay. They’re just doodles that I drew during class anyway.” Satoshi still felt sticky from the juice and the boy looking at his drawings was making him nervous.

“Oh?” Nino raised his eyebrows. “But I’ll still get you a new one. What’s your name?”

“O-ohno Satoshi.” Satoshi rubbed his neck, embarrassed, wishing that Nino would stop looking at his doodles. “Thanks. You don’t have to, though.”

“I want to.” Nino’s smiled widely.

He should have been angry or near tears over his sketchbook and all those drawings in it that were ruined because of the juice, but he wasn’t. He really wasn’t.

“My name is Ninomiya Kazunari and the clumsy idiot is Aiba Masaki.”

“Oi! When are you going to stop calling me an idiot?” Aiba demanded. “You’ve been at it the whole morning. It’s annoying.”

“How about never?” Nino answered, flashing another smile.

These two were sparkling, so bright that Satoshi wanted to squint like when looking towards the sun. Maybe it was the fault of the day that turned everything beautiful, casting a glow on them that didn’t really tell anything about the two boys, but Satoshi still couldn’t look away. Nino had long, wavy hair that curled from the ends, making him look mischievous but friendly and somehow delicate. He was so alien to Satoshi, who had never even thought of talking to his friends like that, calling them idiots with so much love that no one could get offended.

Aiba was smiling.

“Want to eat lunch with us?” Nino asked. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t have any food with you. Aiba’s mom apparently always packs too much for him and I have my own. We can share.”

Well... It wasn’t like he was able to draw anything now anyway.

“Sure.”

Satoshi didn’t know if he was making the right decision. These people would probably find him boring after a while. He didn’t think there was anything he could give to them. But they were loud and whimsical and fun and Satoshi quickly found out that they didn’t even want anything from him.


End file.
